Advocacy to End Lead Intoxication in New York State Schools

In 1991, the Secretary of the Department of Heath and Human Services denounced lead as “the number one environmental threat to the health of children in the United States.” Adversely affecting our youth, long term exposure to lead is destructive to the cerebrum and central nervous system—lead lowers IQ levels, shortens attention spans, and causes mental deficiency.

Last October, Governor Cuomo mandated lead testing in all New York Schools by the end of 2016. After testing, it was found that 14% of NY water outlets were positive for lead. Schools statewide were unsystematically scattering to resolve this conflict. The question is why were our school pipes so intoxicated, but more importantly why was it unknown. Our children are all drinking out of unmonitored fountains. Some resort to water bottles with the fear of “what is in the water”, however, we cannot ignore the vast majority of students who do drink out of these fountains.

Our proposal is threefold: a 24/7 tracker on every central pipe, regulated supervision, and non-stop feedback on both the smartphone and website for the convenience of all students, teachers, and faculty members. The implementation of our approach is the utmost necessary. Just like smoke detectors are required for the prevention of in taking smoke particles, lead detectors ought to be compulsory for the avoidance of a common incident—student, staff, and faculty members drinking lead intoxicated water.

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Andrew Cuomo: Advocacy to End Lead Intoxication in New York State Schools